Dietrich von Choltitz

Dietrich von Choltitz (9 November 1894-4 November 1966) was a General der Infanterie of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was nicknamed "the Savior of Paris" for refusing to obey Adolf Hitler's orders to destroy the city during the Allied liberation of Paris in August 1944.

Biography
Dietrich von Choltitz was born in Graeflich Wiese, Silesia, German Empire (now Laka Prudnika, Opole Voivodeship, Poland) on 9 November 1894. Choltitz served in the Imperial German Army during World War I, ending the war as a lieutenant. Choltitz continued to serve in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic after the war, rising to the rank of cavalry captain in 1929, to major in 1937, and to lieutenant-colonel in 1939. Choltitz commanded a battalion during the Battle of the Netherlands, during which he partook in the assault on Rotterdam; he prevented the execution of all Royal Dutch Army officers at the surrender meeting with Kurt Student after Student was shot in the head by the Dutch. In September 1940, he was promoted to Oberst and given command of a regiment, and his regiment advanced into the Ukraine from Romania as a part of Army Group South during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. He was wounded in the arm during the bloody Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea, during which his regimental strength was reduced from 4,800 men to just 349. In 1943, he was promoted to Generalleutnant and led the 11th Panzer Division at the Battle of Kursk. In March 1944, he became the deputy head of the LXXVI Panzer Corps in Italy, and he fought at the Battle of Anzio before taking command of the LXXIV Armeekorps in Normandy during Operation Overlord. On 7 August 1944, as a General der Infanterie, he was made the military governor of Paris, and he ignored Adolf Hitler's orders to raze the city as the Allied Liberation of Paris began, instead negotiating a truce with the help of Swedish consul-general Raoul Nordling. On 25 August, Choltitz surrendered his 15,000 men, and Paris was largely untouched, leading to him being nicknamed "the Savior of Paris". He was released from captivity in 1947, and he visited his old hotel room in Paris in 1956 before dying in Baden-Baden in 1966 at the age of 71.